StumbleUpon | zackrspv's blog posts

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Mon, 24 Dec 2007 10:26:05 -0800

Every year, I am honord with the ability to cook for my family. The turkey is usually left to my domain, as are the deserts, as I often tend to be more....dramatic.....than most. The average person will just take some butter/pepper/salt and spread it on the turkey and cook. It creates a nice golden/brown texture and buttery taste when eating. But, where's the fun in that? I am not a chef, hardly, but I do know how to cook deliciious deserts and turkey; and, to me, without making something traditional into a more...modern...feel, xmas or thanksgiving would be a bland thing indeed.

My first turkey was the traditional with a mix of sage. Turned out great.

The next years turkey was a smoked sage infused turkey. Note the theme here, I used white sage each time, but a different method. The turkey turned out awesome!

The third year was a hard one. I made an injected turkey; meaning i took fruits, veggies and wine and injected it into various places into the turkey. This allowed for the flavor, once cooked to infuse the entire turkey very deep. That year it was an Apple infused demi-turkey.

This year, however is different. Things have been hectic for us; so I need to make a turkey that has a sweet feel, but at the same time, a loving feel. So:

I am going to make, for xmas, a Blackberry Wine Turkey with a White Truffle Glaze. The inspiration behind this turkey is simply enjoying a beautiful turkey while surrounded by a beautiful forest with scattered blackberry bushes.

The overall taste of the turkey will be light, with a hint of 'earth' throughout as the white truffle helps cook the turkey.

The process is rather elaborate, but simple:
--1. Thaw turkey completely.
--2. Mix 4 cups sweet wine (I prefer flower wine w/ citris and mandarine orange) with 2 small containers of fresh blackberries. You would need to mash the blackberries up, so that the juices and core are exposed.
--3. Add mint leaves, bay leaves and rosmary leaves (all fresh) to the mixture.
--4. Place turkey in a sizeable container (bag [strong], bucket [clean], deep pan [coated w/ teflon or wrapped in plastic first]) and pour the mixture into container.
--5. Fill the rest of the container up with water and about 3 tbsp of lemon juice.

This mixture will sit, overnight, in the cool fridge (ensure the fridge is at the proper temprature for keeping things 'cold', which helps prevent bacterial spread).

The cooking will start aprox 6 to 8 hours PRIOR to the start of dinner. This turkey is one which will be served, within 10 minutes thereof, for dinner. So, ensure you have plenty of cooking time.

***CAVEAT**** Note, I reccomend basting the turkey, simply because it allows the flavor of the truffle/blackberries to spread throughout the surface of the entire turkey, not just the top of the skin. This doesn't add moistness, it simply adds flavor.

***Preparation*** Prior to putting the turkey within the pan, make a nice mixture of white truffle oil and butter with pepper and salt. Should be a nice semi-whipped texture. Spread evenly over the ENTIRE surface of the turkey and coat inside. If STUFFING the turkey, DO NOT cook with the stuffing inside; even the FDA says this is a bad idea and causes massive bacterial growth. So, ensure both the INSIDE and OUTSIDE of the ENTIRE turkey are coated with the whipped butter mixture. The purpose of whipping it will allow for a lighter/softer texture while cooking, thus depositing the truffle and butter/pepper/salt taste into the skin much easier than just coating it with raw butter. Secondly, it allows for a more even color distrobution instead of the splotches that are common with just plain butter.

If you are going to cook veggies as well, make sure you do this in a secondary pan. You can always transfer some of the juices, etc, from the turkey pan into the veggie pan. I never reccomend you cook veggies and turkey together, especially as my cooking time is usually double tha of other preparations. You should start your veggie cooking about 3 hours into the process to allow for a slow roast cook result. To pair with the turkey, consider corn, carrots, sweet potatoes and russetts. Stay away from peas, green beans or brocolli and it's white counterpart. You want to make a good 'earthy' match with the sweet turkey (the turkey will not be COMPLETELY sweet, but with hints of sweetness, so you want to ensure your veggies help balance that out). While cooking, you can also mix the white truffle oil into the water for the veggies, providing a wonderful earthy feel to the flavor.

Cooking on next post.

http://zackrspv.stumbleupon.com/review/15537495/

Mon, 24 Dec 2007 10:25:53 -0800

***COOKING***� PREHEAT the oven to 400 for about 30 minutes prior to cooking.� You want the interior of the oven to already be hot when dealing with the turkey.� Using a baking stone, bread stone, or thermal tiles is a great idea as it will help retain the heat as the oven door opens.�

Take a deep roasting pan (2 to 2.5 inches) and place turkey on rack inside of pan.� Fill pan with aprox 1 inch of water mixed with a tad bit of bay leaves, mint, some blackberries and some wine (same mixture, basically, as the marinade).� Add a touch of lemon juice and some salt to prevent things from burnnin and allowing for separation of flavors into the water.�

Reduce the heat to 325 and set the timer for about 2 hours.� If you have an oven safe temp gague, stick that into the thickest part of the turkey thigh so that you can get a good read on it.� Ensure you are ready to continue after the TWO HOUR MARK.

Wait 2 hours.

Take the turkey out of the oven, place on stove, no heat.� Using a baster, take some of the juices from the bottom of the pan and pour them over the ENTIRE surface of the turkey, and splace it inside of the turkey to prevent drying out.� Rub some more butter, using a cheesecloth or cooks paintbrush over the surface of the turkey, paying close attention to the bones, joints and otherwise quick cook areas.

Place turkey back in oven and close door.� Set timer for another 2 hours.

Wait 2 hours.

Make a mixture of blackberries, butter, white truffle oil, a tad bit of sugar (very tad bit), lemon juice, sweet wine and mint leaves.� Mix it very very well.� You should not have a paste, or batter, but instead should have an even mix of all the different liquids.� Take some more blackberries and smoosh them in a seperate bowl, take the berries and mix with the smooth mixture just created.�

Using a cooks paint brush, paint the brest with the blackberry mixture.� Pay close attention to coat the entire brest evenly with the mixture, leaving some of the blackberries on the surface.� Coat the rest of the turkey as nicely as you would like.� There is no reason to coat the inside with this mixture, but you can if you wish.�

Take some light foil, and cover the brest, legs and wings.� This will ensure the cooking doesn't dry them out.� This last process, which takes about an hour, is all about infusing flavor, and making the turkey come out a beautiful golden/brown with a twinge of purple.� It must be done just right.

Cook again for another hour, then check.� If your internal temprature is around 165 or 170, then you are done.� Your bird should be ready for you.� Take the bird out, place on a cooling rack.

In the mean time, you can create some side toppings for the turky as well.� This sweet turkey will need some acids to make things more enjoyable for your guests, which is always nice.� I usually take some red delicious apples or green granny smith apples, cut them up into very thin slices and then place them on the cooling turkey.� They will not be served with the turkey, but the acids from the apples will help keep the skin supple and allow the flavor to travle down into the turkey as it cools.

Once cooled for about 15 minutes, the turkey is ready to serve.� The juices should be delicious and the turkey absoutly beautiful.� Some garnish and some plating and it will be stunning to see.�

Enjoy!

http://zackrspv.stumbleupon.com/review/13869069/

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 21:33:42 -0700

More guys :)

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Mon, 29 Oct 2007 21:32:57 -0700

http://zackrspv.stumbleupon.com/review/13745687/

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 11:35:40 -0700

MMMMMM, I just love the Naruto series. He is such a greatly drawn character.
From Naruto Yaoi.

http://zackrspv.stumbleupon.com/review/13745681/

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 11:35:09 -0700